Secure mashups via SMash

Some of my IBM colleagues in the emerging technologies asked me to mention something they introduced last week – SMash, for Secure Mashups.

The basic idea is this. In Web 2.0 people frequently use AJAX components or services from several sources and then mash them together into a full application. For example, you might have one service that gives a localized directory of physicians and then combine this with Google Maps to have a visual “find local doctors application.”

As this gets more sophisticated, there are some natural questions to ask:

Where are these components/services coming from?

Do I trust the providers?

Can the data from one service be taken without my knowledge and given to another service?

Can I guarantee the security and privacy of my application to my customers?

SMash is an attempt to deal with these issues. The technology has been donated to the OpenAjax Alliance. Here are some resources to learn more:

One Comment

Not so long ago, IBM was selling OS/2 (and IBM still is selling Lotus SmartSuite). The business model there is that if you want OS/2 and/or SmartSuite, you negotiate the best price you can with your IBM salesman, reward IBM with the dollars, and the IBM commercial legal department agrees not to sue you when they find you using the OS/2 and/or SmartSuite.

Modern technique is like Google; they push the Google version of Sun StarOffice at you at no charge, and you reward Google with your attention and your innermost search desires. Google then sell that to their advertisers, and that’s where the dollars come in.

Google Sun StarOffice (and Google’s business model) is massively more successful than OS/2 and SmartSuite have been in recent years.

One hopes that IBM has new businesses to replace OS/2 and SmartSuite; but that’s nothing new for IBM, card punches and typewriters used to figure highly on the ‘profit drivers’ list but don’t come on the scoreboard at all now.

So what’s cracked it ? Business-to-consumer broadband Internet ? Standards ? A Monopoly to be routed around ?

And how’s that DIS29500 vote coming on ? Enough ‘No’ votes to kick it into the weeds yet ?